PASSIVE AGGRESSION

Cal warns pal Scott’s eye for killer pass is huge threat

He said: “Everyone knows Scott’s got ability, look at the pass he made against Aberdeen. That’s the type of player he is, always looking for that killer pass.

“He’s a top player with an ability to unlock defences.

“He has played some unbelievable balls this season – he has that weapon in his locker. He’s definitely up there with the best I’ve seen, in terms of a killer pass.

“It’s the hardest part of the game, breaking teams down.

“Scott has definitely got it. He can open up teams at will.

“At training here, he could reverse pass it from just about anywhere on the pitch.

“He’d do things and you’d think: ‘How did he get that through?’

“He’s now gett ing games and consistency at Hibs so is able to make those type of passes regularly.

“Scotty likes to play on the edge so he will try to make four or five of them in a game.

“When it comes off it looks amazing but if they don’t then it can become a bit of a problem.

“Maybe that’s why he didn’t play quite as much when he was at Celtic.”

And that has always been the caveat with Allan – when it’s not happening for him, does he do the other side of the game well enough?

He’s often labelled as being lazy yet

McGregor insists his work rate isn’t a problem. But with McGregor, Scott Brown, Olivier Ntcham, Tom Rogic and Ryan Christie in the way, it’s difficult for any midfielder to break through at Celtic.

Allan made just three starts in a four-year stint that was punctuated by loans away from Glasgow.

McGregor said: “Everyone here knew he had the ability – it was just trying to get that run of games he needed.

“It’s unfortunate that it didn’t work out for him here.

“But we’ve always had good players in that position and competition is fierce.

“Myself and Ryan struggled to get in at times.

“Scott always played well but it was down to the volume of players we had and that consistency issue.

“Everyone could see he’s a top talent and he seems to be getting even better.

“People have said he doesn’t work hard enough but they didn’t see enough of him at Celtic to judge him. He always worked hard in training and could press as well as anyone.

“So it’s unfair to say that about Scott because anyone at Celtic will tell you that he could do that side of the game too.”

When Lennon was in charge at Hibs his team used to relish trips to Parkhead to face the champions.

With a midfield trio of Allan, John McGinn and Dylan McGeouch, they tested McGregor & Co regularly.

Now the Celtic star expects Jack Ross’ side to do the same, with Allan at the heart of their attacking threat.

He said: “Scotty’s a confident player so will fancy it.

“He played well in our draw at Easter Road and in parts of the League Cup semi-final at Hampden.

“We know he can be a danger on the ball so we must be switched on.

“He played the pass at Easter Road for their goal against us and, when we do our homework, he’s someone we’ll try to curtail in terms of the threat he can carry. When the manager was at Hibs, their midfield players were technically very good.

“You see what McGinn has gone on to do at Aston Villa and with the Scotland set-up too.

“Going forward, Hibs would always cause us problems and the games we had were pretty high-scoring and open.

“The shape of their team is always to try to catch us on the counter attack. When they ball broke out they could get at us on the counter.

“They were pretty random in that they could give you a problem at any time in the game.

“You could be two goals up and all of a sudden they’d have a spell in the game, it would be 2-2 and game on again.

“They’ve always been dangerous and I don’t anticipate it being any different this time.

“Jack is a top manager and has already made an impact. He has strikers playing together and scoring so they’ll be a big threat.”